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Saturday, August 11, 2012

A Morning Ramble

I'm a slow morning person. There is no hopping, popping, or jumping out of bed for me but a gradual ascent into wakefulness met with total denial that my sleep is over. My garden eyed me humorously this morning as I stumbled about with my camera. They'd been awake for hours and I was late to the party.

'Abraham Darby' rose is thriving in a giant pot. Old fashioned multi-petaled roses are my favorite.

This unnamed phlox seedling is the result of some botanical baby-making. I love it's jagged edges. I think 'David' is the father but no one's talking.

Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' in the Founding Flowers garden

All of the flowers that were put into this bed last fall were transplanted from different areas of the garden. Most are original to the garden. The phlox in the background are all seedlings, which is why they're so small.

'Delta Snow' phlox grows to about 4 feet tall and blooms for over a month.

'Deam's' rudbeckia has much smaller flowers than 'Goldsturm' and can tolerate a bit of dry shade.

Variegated water celery spills out from the frog pond to meet and mingle with the rest of the garden.

'Night Owl' climbing rose and 'Blue Fortune' agastache

'Piglet' pennisetum and cone flower seedlings in the rain garden

After losing the last bunch of tomatoes to a squirrel, a storm, and a klutzy kid, I'm excited to have more to harvest. This variety is Heatmaster.

The sweet potato vines are taking over but no one minds, except for the tomato. I heard a bit of grumbling back there.

A cantaloupe vine, gifted by the Compost Angels, grows between the variegated abelia and the loropetalum in my front garden. The loropetalum were planted this spring and are still quite small.

The vine is covered with flowers! I hope I get to eat more cantaloupe than the bunny.

Annual vinca and lantana grow in the hell strip next to my walkway.

They're being replaced with a perennial butterfly garden this fall.

I added orange milkweed to this bed last fall when I had no where else to put them. They've thrived so much, I've decided to turn this entire hot, dry section into a butterfly garden. I'm adding more milkweed, salvia, and coreopsis. Dalea also grows well between the milkweed and vinca.

Your August garden looks great. Goldsturm rudbeckia got a terrible disease in my garden (I know, they're supposed to be no care), so I'm enjoying yours here. I did put in another type of rudbeckia last year and it is doing well.

Love the orange milkweed in that hot dry space and the butterflies will love you for putting in a feeding station for them!

A hell strip is any hot, dry spot that is a challenge to garden in. I've tortured a lot of plants in mine. Lantana and vinca like it hot and dry, so they're a good combo. I just wish they weren't annuals.

You have such nice flowers around your place. I'm the same way....it takes me forever to get ready in the morning if I don't have to work:) Tomatoes and canteloupes....oh yum yum! I hope the tomatoes make it for you. Have fun with all those cool butterfly plants....but your garden is full of them....so it must be butterfly central at your place:) Have a good Sunday!

Your garden is looking great! I always find August a tough month since the heat has taken its toll on many plants and the blooms are not as plentiful. I had to do some major cleaning up of the tomato plants so that the bad bugs didn't have so many places to hide.

I love the Phlox seedlings....hope mine are listening!! I was chatting with a neighbor and we are going to put annual vincas up by the front gate, they are so cheery all summer long. Those are some huge seed pods on your butterfly weed!!!

I like it when surprise seedlings pop up. :o) Vinca is a tough, cheap blooming machine. I don't know why it took me so long to start using it. The milkweed seed pods are enormous! They look like missiles.

What a pretty garden! I love how you decided to make a butterfly garden since the butterfly weed did so well. It is beautiful with all those seedpods. Tomatoes look delish! P.S. Thanks for your very kind sentiments:)

Your garden is so lovely. I wish we could stroll through it right now. Thank you for the Garden Love. Oklahoma and I sure need it. We do have some rain in the forecast, so yes, please pray. I'm praying for rain too. Thanks again!

There is lots to admire in this post, Tammy. I like the pink phlox with the questionable parentage (love that crinkled edge) as well as the lovely Delta Snow. You can never have to many phlox as far as I am concerned. They add so much to the garden at this time of year. I did not get a chance to move my Abraham Darby rose and have paid the price for my negligence. It has been overtaken by the more aggressive plants around it and has failed to bloom more than once. Your picture has reminded me how much it is worth attempting to salvage it. The hell strip garden looks great if you ask me. I planted what I thought was a peachy-orange milkweed, only to be surprised with pink flowers. Like you I love the plant so much I am adding more next year.

I do love the hell strip this year but the vinca just sat in the soil like little lumps until it got hot in mid-June. I need something that will cover up the fading daffodil foliage so I'm replacing the annuals with perennials.

I love those posts that illuminate our gardening life. Now I know the name of my never but once blooming rose, it's Abrahm Darhby, didn't spell that right. And I have a long blooming white phlox to look for, to replace those nasty daisies in the front garden.And I am definitely getting more Rudebeckia.

I've had mixed luck with rudbeckia. I once killed a whole patch by adding compost to the soil. In retrospect, I think I may have suffocated them. I grew r. triloba and it grew into a massive water sucking beast that I ripped out of the bed mid-summer. Rudbeckia 'Deam's" has smaller flowers but is really tough. I also grow 'Goldsturm' which is a beauty.

Dalea is one plant I really want to grow but never have been able to find in a nursery here. It just has me so curious. Your Phlox seedling is a jewel. I love those serrated edges. I also like 'Delta Snow.' Gorgeous! And Abraham, oh Abraham!!

I bought my dalea from High Country Gardens and Prairie Moon. I've never seen it around here. I love that little pink seedling, too. I couldn't find it in the garden and thought it had croaked. I was so glad to see it hanging out with the mountain mint. I had moved it and couldn't remember where.

Vinca and lantana grew well in my desert garden and vinca could tolerate the 114 degree heat with no problem. If the winter wasn't too cold, they survived and were perennials out there. I like your orange milkweed and may plant that when I get my own garden. I have always admired photos of Abraham Darby. Is it hard to care for?

I've found Abraham to be a pretty easy going guy. It lives in an enormous pot in moisture retentive potting soil I amended with compost and dried banana peels. He has tripled in size and shows almost no blackspot. I bought it from Chamblee Roses, an online nursery. They have great stuff!

Hi Tammy, I only really love old fashioned roses and that AB is perfectly shaped and a perfect soft pinky-apricot colour. I'm not familiar with milkweed, but I love the name of it. It sounds like something that would grow in Harry Potter's garden to counter The Dark Arts. It should be white not orange but I suppose you could think of it as a frothy orange milk shake. cheers, catmint

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